1134 out of 3915 VDC secretaries vacant

Govt planning to allow local level to appoint VDC secretaries

Bishnu Prasad Aryal
Kathmandu, August 31

The government has failed to ensure democratic realisation and its presence to the local level, where the first step of the governance begins.

The government has completely failed to ensure priority in the local governance, said Bhim Prasad Dhungana, general secretary of the Village Development Committee Federation of Nepal.

“More than one third of the VDCs of the country do not have secretaries,” he said. “In some districts, there are more than necessary quotas while many districts are facing short.”

The Ministry of Local Development has planned to formulate policies empowering the local bodies to appoint the Village Development Committee secretaries, said a high-ranking ministry official.

"We are discussing to forge policies to allow the local level for appointing the VDC secretaries on the basis of merit," said Dinesh Kumar Thapaliya, spokesman for the MoLD. "This process must be approved by the cabinet to bring the concept into practice," he added.

Thapaliya said that people are deprived from first step of getting government facilities due to the lack of VDC secretaries in many districts. "People should feel presence of the government in the local level as per the decentralization policy," he said. "But this has been a far cry here."

According to the MoLD, 1134 VDCs are running without secretaries, which has barred people from getting recommendation for citizenship paper, birth/death registration, and so on. There are 3915 VDCs across the nation.

The government should give priority in such a serious matter, said Thapaliya. "On one hand, it is time to initiate development projects of the current fiscal year and the grants have been already issued. On the other, the social security allowances such as elderly and widow allowance should be distributed before Dashain festival," he added. "But, everything is at halt now."

Thapaliya indicated the drawbacks of the Ministry of Public Administration and the Public Service Commission in failing to relocate and recruit the personnel in the VDCs. "There is lack of coordination of MoPA with other ministries and the PSC takes about six months to appoint a staff," he said.

There are only 29 VDC secretaries working in Saptari district where 114 VDCs exist. Similarly, 28 VDC secretaries out of 50 VDCs are working in Taplejung. "There were already more than 500 posts of secretaries vacant in different districts while more than 500 bid golden handshake recently," said Thapaliya. "However, the VDC secretaries were recruited en masse about 35 years ago. How can it be sustained now?"

Dhungana said that some of the districts such as Dhankuta, Biratnagar and Kathmandu are overcrowded with secretaries while others remain vacant. "The majority of personnel don't like to go in the VDCs while others like to transfer anywhere from there due to the security reason in the local level," said Thapaliya.